Hello, my name is
Pharmacist turned AI developer.
james.kiwi.nz
James Kan
Senior AI Software Developer at Unison · Pharmacist · Hawke's Bay, New Zealand
Directions: connect as needed.
Pharmacist since 2010Developer since 2016
Hi! The name is James. I am a Senior AI Software Developer at Unison, a power distribution company in New Zealand, where I build intelligent automation across the Microsoft ecosystem.
I trained as a pharmacist and ran a pharmacy as sole charge, building websites on the side the whole time. In 2014 I went back to study IT, and I have been writing software ever since.
When the IT side of the brain is not being used, you may sometimes find me working as a locum pharmacist or writing a speech for the next Toastmasters meeting.
Given the finite resources that we have, I value the importance of "doing the right things at the right time for the right genuine purpose" in order to ensure value-for-money for the stakeholders.
Career
</> software and data℞ pharmacy◦ research and other
My path: a three-stage ride from prescriptions to prompts
Stage 1 Foundations 2006 – 2010
Stage 2 Pharmacy 2010 – 2016
Stage 3 Corporate 2016 – now
May 2025 – Present
Unison
Working in the Digital Technologies Group, the focus is to utilise a mixture of Microsoft tools from low code to full code to create intelligent automations to improve the efficiency across various business processes.
My scope of involvement to date has been:
See projects in my LinkedIn profile for examples of how I have applied my skills in this role.
Nov 2018 – May 2025
Unison
As an AMS Specialist, I worked closely with different stakeholders in the Asset Management (AM) space spanning areas such as Network Development Planning, Continual Improvement, and Performance Evaluation.
My range of responsibilities and skillsets:
Jan 2017 – Nov 2018
RxOne
I first started as a Test Analyst at RxOne, with a focus on writing test cases to validate development progress. In the latter few months, I took on further responsibilities as a developer to migrate existing UI elements into the new WPF framework.
Nov 2016 – Oct 2018
Unison
As a developer, my role was around Decision Support System (DSS), a project started by the Asset Intelligence team in 2016.
The concept of a generic decision support system (DSS) is based on harvesting and analysing business data so that business information can be derived in order to make the relevant decisions. An example is Countdown collects customers' shopping habit (data) and analyses the data to determine the purchasing choices (information) so that the planograms can be re-arranged to promote certain business objectives (decision).
DSS is about harvesting data from the wide range of sensors installed at various points of the electricity grid system so that relevant information can be compiled. This allows optimisation decisions to be made in the interest of the company's vision.
Throughout the tenure, I created various software tools in order to support Unison's journey on being able to make better business decisions.
2012 – 2016
Andrew Spence Pharmacy
I worked as a sole-charge pharmacist at Andrew Spence Pharmacy in Napier, overseeing the running of the pharmacy as a whole. My responsibilities involved counselling patients on new medications and ensuring understanding with present medicines, blister-packaging medications for patients where medicine-management difficulty arises, dispensing and checking prescriptions and providing health advice as required.
2010 – 2012
Tamatea Pharmacy
I undertook my internship at Tamatea Pharmacy in Napier in 2011 and continued my employment as a pharmacist in 2012. As part of the daily running of the pharmacy, I was responsible for dispensing and checking prescriptions, counselling patients, giving health advice, helping patients to manage opioid addiction and blister-packaging medications. I was also involved in the Medicines Use Review programme, whereby I paid a visit to selected patients in residence to review their medications and answer any queries they had. The range of activities involved has developed me into an “all-rounder” pharmacist.
2010 – 2012
Sunshine Pharmacy
I was appointed as the webmaster of Sunshine Pharmacy, an online pharmacy based in Gisborne, New Zealand. This position involved updating the database every fortnight, optimising the website's layout, and promoting its SEO position on Google and other major search engines.
2010
Grafton Hostel
I worked as a part-time computer technician at Grafton Halls of Residence in Auckland. My responsibilities included troubleshooting computer and network problems. I enjoyed the challenges this brought and the opportunity to work with a variety of people.
2009 – Present
New Zealand
I am the webmaster of the New Zealand Controlled Release Society Local Chapter (NZCRS) website, whereby I ensure the web pages are up-to-date with the latest content. This includes upcoming NZCRS workshops, notices, and minutes from meetings.
In 2016, I rebuilt the website using Foundation and AngularJS, giving a modern impression to a now responsive single-page application (SPA) website.
2009 – 2010
University of Auckland
I worked on a summer studentship research project at the University of Auckland. The objective was to investigate the risk of prostate cancer based on the patients’ genetic makeup and dietary intake. Findings were submitted to Discipline of Nutrition and Cancer Society of New Zealand at the University and presented at Nutrigenomics international conference.
2009
School of Pharmacy
I established the new Auckland Pharmacy Students' Association (APSA) website in 2009 and was subsequently appointed as the association's webmaster. The major roles I undertook included website administration, liaison with the publication managers, and troubleshooting of technical issues that the association faced.
2008 – 2009
University of Auckland
My summer studentship research involved a project at the University of Auckland, in which the susceptibility of enlisted patients to glaucoma was investigated based on their genetic makeup. Findings were presented and accepted by the Department of Ophthalmology at the University.
2007 – 2009
University of Auckland
During the two-year tenure, I was the web designer and the webmaster for the University of Auckland Linux User Group website. My responsibility was to update the web pages as required.
2006 – 2007
Howick College
I was the webmaster for the Ingham house, whereby I played a role in re-designing all the web pages and updating the website on a regular basis.
What I work with
Earlier tech: VB6, PHP, WPF, AngularJS
Study
2014 – 2016
I scored straight A+ for all completed papers, with 94% being the average score. The papers accomplished are as below:
2007 – 2010
I studied a variety of chemistry, biology, medicinal science, pharmacology, pharmaceutical, pharmacy practice, and law and ethics papers at School of Pharmacy (The University of Auckland). For my elective subject, I pursued the Introduction to Computer Science paper and achieved an A+.
Off the clock
Kalimba – learning to improve my thumb dexterity to play this smoother. Otherwise might be playing "Shook me all night long" on the ukulele.
When I am not messing around with coding, you can find me doing a bit of cooking or out cycling on the road in Hawke's Bay. As a proud lycra warrior, I once cycled from Napier to Mahia (170 km), stayed a night there, and cycled back to Napier the next day!
Outside the day job
17th October 2026 – present
Designed and delivered a feature-rich website for my local ukulele club in under two weeks, directing multiple Claude Code agents to build, test and ship it. Highlights include an animated first club night walk-through for newcomers, a self-updating club night countdown, a chord songbook, and Uke Bot, an AI assistant that answers visitors' questions from the site's own content with safety checks on every answer.
29th – 30th October 2016
While visiting a close friend of mine in Tonga, she described her pharmacy dispensing software automatically capitalises the first letter after an apostrophe (exa'Mpl'E) for Tongan names. I developed two solutions to the problem:
Jul 2015 – Nov 2015
NOW Internet / EIT
I led a team of five student developers to create a customer portal for NOW Internet. The scope was initially front- and back-ends, but due to a change in circumstances, it was later reduced to front-end.
As the team leader, I learned how to delegate sections of the projects to my teammates and how to keep track of their respective progress. As a student developer, I learned the art of "two-way traffic" between my team and the client.
Although the deliverable was not implemented as NOW Internet's replacement customer portal, the experience has given me insight into the "real world" and shown me the difference between being a programmer and a developer.
The deliverable was formally accepted on the 3rd of November 2015 by NOW Internet, with 96% being the final score.